Gluten Free Fantasy

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Color Me Natural - Homemade Gluten Free Frosting with No Funny Stuff

The kids (and Grandma) had a grand time, and I was happy the frosting didn't have wierd, unpronounceable stuff in it.

For birthday parties I sometimes bake gluten free cupcakes and mix up a bunch of colors and put each into a decorating tube. Then I give each party-goer a "blank canvas" cupcake and stand back and watch the creativity squeeze out. Each child exchanges ideas and frosting colors and a fun time is had by all.

So how did I get all those awesome colors without weird stuff? I used combinations of blueberry juice, spirulina (a blue green algae sold in health-food stores as a whole food vitamin and mineral supplement), turmeric, and India Tree Natural food coloring. I use a palm kernel oil shortening to make my frosting with powdered sugar and natural peppermint flavoring.

Here is what I used to create the colors:

Red: India Tree red and a small amount of blueberry juice gave me a richer red than with the coloring alone. I also added a tiny sprinkle of turmeric.

Orange: I used the India Tree red, a drop of blueberry juice (to get the "red" in the orange), turmeric, and some of the India Tree yellow.

Yellow: Turmeric and India Tree yellow combined to make a much brighter yellow than the coloring alone, I then added the tiniest bit of spirulina.

Green: I mixed turmeric, spirulina and the blue and yellow India Tree colors until I got a great green. I went heavy on the spirulina. I added the slightest bit of blueberry juice to ad a bit of depth and got a great result.

Blue: I used the IT blue, blueberry juice and spirulina. Blue is a tough color.The spirulina made this easy though because it balanced out the "purple" of the blue India Tree coloring and blueberry juice.

Purple: Blueberry juice, Blue food coloring, and just a little bit of spirulina made a surprisingly vibrant purple.